Something like “Yahoo!! To hell with you” types. And today, everyone is a publishing house – what with the social media giving you space to be whatever you want to be. Every post, page and tweet is a bumper sticker. Its a whole world out there, filled with bumper stickers in tons.

Being on twitter and Facebook is about creating your own bumper stickers. It must have the right fonts, the right pictures and the right rhythm and voice to whatever you want to blare about – Especially if it is YOU, you want to blare about. You can choose to talk about what you cannot, what you’ve done in the past, how you can take it further, how you resonate with current affairs and how you can be useful to someone.

This is ME, now! I protest against a judiciary which is corrupt and highly inefficient. India deserves better people in these positions. This is my bumper sticker for this season.

Twitter takes away most of the frills, with no fonts, no images, no color. Yes, there are a lot who use twitter for just posting images, but that sucks. Twitter is about brevity of thought, instant reactions, short and pithy statements, reflections, moods and its a medium for expressing those quick flashes of ingenuity(as you believe it) to the world.

Facebook gives you more space for your bumper stickers – You have all the room for raves, rants and the raunchy stuff. Having followers who want to please you or you keep adding “likes” by “buying up likes” with FB, doesn’t win you anything. Facebook is a great medium to connect with your UNLIKELY fans. If you can interact with them to debate on a topic and present your point of view without a disparaging attitude, you can win respect in the long run. Understanding that you are not shallow over a view point can win you greater loyalties. Ideally this must be your bumper sticker.

While on these platforms, should you actually care about what people think about you – Yes, you must, if you are a public person, a consumer brand, a product that wants to reach more markets. What you say can plague you for a long time, and leave a digital footprint that can be unforgiving.

So, should it always be ‘all is well’ messages – Certainly not. Say something controversial. Say something meaningful. Say something that, at least a section of the people can resonate with. Say something that shows you as a human being, with your views, faults and thought leadership. Don’t have ghost writers who don’t understand your personality or your branding. They are just billing you for trash that is not you. And you are reaching out to your audience with the message that you are way too shallow and not worth their time.

And do you think anybody has time for phony folks? Forget it!

If you get phony, your bumper sticker on Facebook and Twitter, blares it to the world – even if the fonts, colors and number of followers are to your liking.